iAdventure

2010 Moab Extreme Adventure Race

March 27, 2010

... Results Coming Soon ...

The Making of Iron Maiden

I received my personalized license plate in the mail today and couldn't wait to put it on my truck! As probably all of you have noticed 'iron maiden' or 'ironmaidenchic' is a title or nickname I use for many different things, but what most of you probably don't know is the story behind the name. I didn't make it up for myself. It was given to me by a great friend of mine, Pete. I met him while working at ANASAZI and actually trained him his first week on the trail. He gave me the name after hearing about one of my crazy experiences on the trail.....

I was walking in a Badgerstone girl's band with two other male Trail Walkers, Robert and Kyle (who was on his first training week). I don't remember the starting and ending point of the week's hike, but we had to hike over a mountain and down into the creek bed on the other side. [Wait, what week didn't we have to hike over a mountain??]. We summited the top of the mountain early afternoon and just had a few miles down a narrow and some-what steep ravine. Just getting into the ravine we had to jump down about four feet or scramble down the rock. One of my girls, Meghan decided to climb down the rock instead of taking the small leap. While she was climbing down her footing slipped and she fell, sliding all the way to the bottom over sharp rocks, and twisted her foot upon trying to control her fall/landing. She completely tore the back of her pants into shreds and scraped up her backside pretty good, enough to need medical attention. I ushered the band to go on ahead down the canyon in order to have some privacy but to stay within hooting distance while I administered first aid to Meghan and patched up her pants with duck tape.

Once Meghan was bandaged up - both skin and pants - we got ready to head down the ravine to catch up to the band, which had hiked out of hooting distance by that time. Meghan's ankle was in slight pain while I was bandaging her up, but we didn't realize the gravity of her twisted ankle until she tried to stand up to begin hiking; she couldn't. It was too painful for her to get up much less attempt to limp on it. At that point I found myself in an undesirable situation. I was alone with an injured Young Walker who couldn't walk, I didn't have a radio to contact Ridgewalk (which would have been useless anyway because he wouldn't have been able to reach my band), and my band was out of hooting distance, which also meant they were too far away to make a quick trip down the ravine to notify them of the situation. The days were short then, but being in a ravine made the amount of daylight even shorter. I needed to do something and I needed to do it fast.

I helped Meghan stand up in the least painful manner as possible, I slipped her pack on her back, cinched down and tied off my pack straps so they wouldn't slide and put my arms through them so the pack was on the front of my body. I then squatted down and somehow managed to get Meghan on my back. Meghan became my eyes as I walked down the ravine with her on my back because my pack was blocking my view; I was basically walking blindly down the ravine, every once in a while walking slightly sideways when needed to avoid mud holes, rocks, or cacti. In addition to these obstacles, the ravine had several drop offs that we had to skillfully climb down. I was making my way down the ravine as fast as I could but it felt like my band had hiked miles and miles down the ravine. The light of the day was fading fast and I was still unable to establish communication with my band. I used my determination as strength to continue hiking under the heavy load. I eventually reached a daunting drop off that I wasn't sure how to get down with my injured Young Walker. Desperately I gave a loud, long hoot down the canyon in hopes of hearing something other than my echo in return. A hoot returned and I was shocked to see my fellow Trail Walker Robert come around the corner below us with Kyle trailing behind. They looked up at me and with stunned expressions on their face realized why it had taken me so long to catch up to them.

They quickly helped Meghan and I make it the last 25 yards or so to the where the rest of the band had been sitting, waiting for us. With darkness almost setting in on us we decided to stay put and dry-camp (without fire and water) for the night. At first light we would get up and hike down the rest of ravine until we reached water where we would stop to make a fire, cook a meal, and rest further. (You don't get a whole lot of sleep when laying on rocks in a creek bed). The Trail Walkers attended to Meghan's injured foot and made her load lighter by splitting up her gear amongst the band members so we could continue hiking in order to make it to Final D. I loved this band of girls! They were so willing to help and made the situation into a positive experience.

The week quickly came to an end and before we knew it we were doing switch-outs with the on-coming Trail Walkers and heading off the trail. The story of me carrying Meghan down the ravine caught wind and soon many other Trail Walkers heard about it, one of which was Pete. He had me re-tell the story he heard from my perspective and experience at which point he called me an Iron Maiden for what I had done. Unlike many of my other nicknames, this one stuck. He continued to refer to me as the Iron Maiden and it has been something I have strived to live up to since.

I must clarify one thing though, which a lot of people automatically assume upon hearing or seeing 'iron maiden' or 'iron maiden chic'. I am NOT familiar with nor do I listen to or have ever listened to the heavy metal band, Iron Maiden. A lot of mid-generation aged people get excited, start reminiscing, or have flashbacks about their association with this heavy metal band. Beats me!

Chippin' Away

I once heard (whether it's true or not is a different story) that genetically a person can have 'soft' teeth, which of course would result in a greater probability of cavities. I like to think that I was subject to such 'soft' teeth from my genetic predecessors whomever they were. And not to mention, with the faultless gene of soft teeth comes the expected fillings to save face of having dentures at the age of 12.

At that age in my life amalgam fillings were the way to go - whether they were in style or just the least expensive alternative - I ended up with a mouth full of them. Literally. All but the six top and bottom middle teeth are filled with amalgam fillings. That's a lot. I know. Growing up I was always self-conscious about my teeth. They were very crooked to say the least. My brothers used to call me snaggle-tooth because they were so jagged. Getting amalgam fillings didn't help the matter. It wasn't until I got my braces off at the age of 24 that my self-consciousness reduced dramatically. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't look in the mirror and am grateful for the straight teeth that I have; the humiliation was that bad. (Thanks Mom, Dad, and Dr. Smart!). Since the braces came off I have desired to get my amalgam fillings replaced with white fillings. This was not an entirely vain or cosmetic desire (although I must admit a small part of it was). Mercury toxicity was the main drive.

This being a very expensive procedure I have not had the means to be able to follow through with this desire - until now (or I wouldn't be writing about it). With some coverage from my health insurance and a new 'flex spending plan' that my employment offers I am able to finally follow through with replacing my fillings.

This week was the first of four procedures that I will receive over the year to remove the amalgam fillings. As you can see from the picture, the bottom right fillings have been replaced with white fillings! It was an exciting start to begin this process, but of course a dentist visit isn't a dentist visit without getting some bad news.

When I was at the exciting moment of laying in the orthodontist chair finally getting my braces off the assistant who was sanding the cement off my upper left teeth nicked my gum and sliced it open. With no address to what she had done I figured that everything was fine. The excitement of having my braces off didn't last much more than a day or two due to an infection in my gums where the assistant had sliced it open causing a large abscess to form. I was with my roommate and her family for Thanksgiving break in a different state at the time and was in so much pain that they gave me an 'aspirin' like pill that they would give their horse when it was in pain. It literally was a horse pill. After about a week or so the pain subsided but an abscess has continued to make its appearance on and off since. Long story short...this infection in my gum has gotten into the root of an upper left tooth which will require me to receive a root canal when the amalgam fillings are being replaced in that section of my mouth. Bad news and a big hole burned into my wallet. But the end result of better health is worth every penny.

BCSAR Accomplishment

Over the past couple months as I have been volunteering for the Bonneville County Search and Rescue (BCSAR) team I have also been participating in training to recertify BCSAR with the Mountain Rescue Association (MRA). I don't know exactly what that means, to be honest. I think it must be a required certification for all Search and Rescue units to have in order to be an established unit, but recertification only happens once every five years. There is a winter certification with specific winter skills the unit must know and pass, as well as a summer certification with different know-how skills. We have been training to pass the technical rope high angle rescue, avalanche rescue, and basic individual skills pertaining to winter gear.

I personally was on the belay line for the technical rope high angle rescue skill. To give you an idea, there are three components to this skills - the main line, the belay line, and the medics. This rescue is performed when there is an injured individual (or individuals) on some kind of high angle mountain/cliff. Our job is to set up two lines (main and belay) to send down a medic or two to treat the victim(s) and then to bring all individuals to safety by either hoisting them up or lowering them down depending on the situation/terrain. The belay line is a back up line in case the main line fails.

Everybody involved in the recertification was also trained in avalanche rescue, which we performed together in a mock scenario. I don't have a lot of the gear (yet) that is needed for avalanche rescue and so my job today was to follow a fellow team member around with a shovel and dig for possible victims in the buried snow that were located either by an avalanche beacon or by probing. Out of the three victims I dug up two of them. Knowing that one of the victims was an actual real person who was buried under the snow it was kind of an eerie job. The adrenaline is definitely running as you are hoping to dig up a live and/or treatable person but in the back of your mind you know that you could also possibly be digging up half of a person's body or an individual who might be decapitated, which was the case for one of the victims in the mock scenario.

The BCSAR team passed with flying colors in all of the tested skills. I don't think I ever felt the gravity of this recertification as many others in the unit seemed to demonstrate. We practiced, we knew our stuff, and we performed excellent. I am grateful that I was invited to be apart of the recertification group. I learned a lot of new skills, brushed up on some previously acquired skills, and was able to get to know more of the members in the unit. I am looking forward to starting the training for the summer recertification skills and continuing to learn additional skills to build upon what I have been taught.

The Call Came Through

While sitting in the Search & Rescue building going over the logistics for the upcoming Mountain Rescue Recertification event a call of action came through to the First Commander. The report: Adult male, suicidal. Vehicle found with note posted on window. Guns in vehicle missing. The room exploded into action with orders being thrown out right and left. This would be my very first search and rescue call since joining the SAR team in January. The adrenaline was pumping.

I wish I could tell you about the adventure going out on the call and finding the victim. I'll let you know as soon as I do. As I was about to head out the door after jumping into my winter gear to prepare myself for a possible long night of searching another call came through, to stand down because the victim had been found. A bittersweet call really; good that the victim was found (hopefully alive and not dead), but disappointing that it ended before it really even began for me. It was an exciting feeling to be involved in such an effort and was a small taste of what potentially the rest of my life may hold for me in my pursuit in this career field.

UPDATE: I was able to get a few details about the above call that I almost had the opportunity to go out on. The adult male who was missing and suicidal was located. The authorities that were searching for the man had a hard time locating him but from the sound of his ringing cell phone were able to find his body. He was located near the vicinity of his vehicle, dead with a tarp around or over his body. I have never seen a dead person/body and don't know if a suicidal victim from a gunshot would have been the best first time exposure, but on the other hand it would give me a real dose of the reality of this field of work.